Planes overhead in SW1A
Westminster and Wandsworth, London. All 145 of its postcodes measured, January to August 2026.
From Heathrow
Planes land and take off into the wind, so the weather decides which way Heathrow flies, and that decides how many pass over SW1A. Across its postcodes, January to August 2026:
- On a day it flies west (56% of days): up to 307 a day; of its 145 postcodes, 2 at 100+, 79 at 10 to 99, 64 under 10
- On a day it flies both ways (15% of days): up to 170 a day; of its 145 postcodes, 2 at 100+, 61 at 10 to 99, 82 under 10
- On a day it flies east (29% of days): up to 4 a day; of its 145 postcodes, 145 under 10
The table counts the postcodes of each sector by how many planes pass over them a day: 100 or more, 10 to 99, or under 10.
| Sector | Flying west56% of days | Both ways15% of days | Flying east29% of days |
|---|---|---|---|
| SW1A 03 postcodes | 3 at 10 to 99 | 3 at 10 to 99 | 3 under 10 |
| SW1A 167 postcodes | 2 at 100+1 at 10 to 9964 under 10 | 2 at 100+65 under 10 | 67 under 10 |
| SW1A 275 postcodes | 75 at 10 to 99 | 58 at 10 to 9917 under 10 | 75 under 10 |
Also counted here: London City, at most 1 a day over any of its postcodes.
2 of its postcodes have a position ONS estimates, so their figures may be for a spot a few hundred metres away.
What counts as overhead
Overhead means more than halfway up the sky (48.5 degrees or more) and below 7,000 ft, the CAA's definition of an overflight (CAP 1498). A day counts as one way when 80% of its flights used that way.
Near SW1A
SW1Y SW1H WC2N SW1E W1J WC2E WC2H WC2R
The councils
Where these figures come from
Counted from community flight tracking, checked against the CAA's monthly totals for Heathrow. Flight tracks: adsb.lol (ODbL 1.0); Weather at each airport: Iowa Environmental Mesonet; Ground heights: Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right; Postcode positions: ONS National Statistics Postcode Lookup (OGL). Licence: Open Database License (ODbL) 1.0.